Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey JournalPaul Ondari, left, and Peter Masougo, the grandfather and uncle, respectively of Bilha Omare, are photographed with her and her children's caskets at the Watson Mortuary Service in Jersey City on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010.

The bodies of a woman and her children who were murdered in Minnesota were flown to Jersey City for burial yesterday, but their kin said today there will be no burial until family members in Kenya who were denied visas are allowed to attend the funerals.

"It is despicable, ridiculous, that the American Embassy in Nairobi has denied the visas," Peter Masonga told The Jersey Journal today at Watson Mortuary Service where the bodies of his sister, Bilha Omare, 32, and her two children lay in caskets nearby.

Justus Ogendi Kebabe, 43, pleaded guilty to murdering Omare, his wife, as well as their son, Kinley Ogendi, 12; and their daughter, Ivyn Ogendi, 9, in the family's home in Vadnais Heights, Minn., a suburb of St. Paul, on Oct. 14.

The brother of the murderer, Evans Kebabe, lived with the family in Minnesota and his efforts to have the bodies sent to Kenya have been the subject of news articles in Kenya's The Standard.

In an article posted today he said tradition gives his family the right to bury the victims in their ancestral home.

Evans Kebabe told the publication both families had agreed to send the bodies to Kenya for burials. The relatives in Jersey City said today that is not true.

"They have been lying to people about it," said the family's spiritual advisor, Elder Shem Onditi of the Muungano Seventh Day Adventist Church in Jersey City, today.

Shem and other family members in Jersey City said Evans Kebabe has also tried to use contacts with tribal leaders to get the bodies flown to Kenya, and they suspect his efforts are at the root of the visa problem.

Bilha Omare's mother, brother, sister and uncle went to the embassy in Nairobi yesterday and brought copies of death certificates and documents from the prosecution, but officials ignored the paperwork and told them visas were denied because "There is a dispute," family members said.

"Is there a dispute that they died, that they were killed, that it is not the mother there?" said Shem, adding that family members in Jersey City want the bodies buried there so the couple's surviving 4-year-old daughter, Savannah, can have closure and a place to grieve.

"You can't kill people and then demand the bodies in the name of culture," Shem said. "There is no tradition to allow you to kill your family, and if you do, you can have the bodies."

Shem said the victims were to be buried Monday but that has been postponed indefinitely until visas are issued. Watsons Mortuary Service will store the bodies free of charge.

The family is moving forward with a service for the victims on Sunday at 5 p.m. at St. Patrick's Church on Bramhall Avenue in Jersey City. Anyone willing to help the family cover funeral expenses should contact Muungano Adventist Seventh-day Adventist Church Jersey City.

U.S. Department of State spokesman Andy Laine said today that "We are not able to comment on specific visa cases. Its the law."